


Award show shenanigans

by justme (silver_spring)



Series: Shorties and Ficlets [2]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: #ficletfireworks, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Photobombing, award shows
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:22:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28456767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silver_spring/pseuds/justme
Summary: Who says award shows have to be boring?
Relationships: Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth
Series: Shorties and Ficlets [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2084244
Comments: 10
Kudos: 35





	1. The Baelor Awards

**Author's Note:**

> These two are unrelated, but I'll put them in one story anyway. They were part of a HYPE challenge before season 8.  
> The topic for the first one was: Photobombing

"You ready?" Jaime asked with an encouraging smile, as the limousine came to a stop.  
"Yeah, I think so. Let's get it over with" Brienne nodded.  
"At least try to relax, Honeybee. This is your moment."

Easier said than done, Brienne thought, as they walked hand in hand the short distance from the limo drop-off to the red carpet. Even after more or less ten years in the movie business, she still got nervous whenever it was time to walk past a horde of photographers, critics and bloggers. Especially on the rare occasions when it was about her, as today was going to be. Usually, when she accompanied her husband to a movie premiere, the cameras were on him and the microphones shoved under his nose, which suited her just fine. Jaime was the star between the two of them. He was an actor, he had definitely no problems with any camera being pointed at him. For Brienne, it was different. Glitz and glamour, it wasn't really her world. She was happy in her studio, coming up with the perfect notes to emphasize a crucial moment in a film, write her music and the occasional original song. But even if most camera lenses would still focus on the man at her side, a few of them were bound to pay attention to her tonight, after all, she was nominated for a Baelor Award, not him. And while the gossip pages of the world seemed to have finally accepted that a woman with her looks was married to a handsome movie star and they were truly in love, Brienne had never forgotten how many rags had reported about their 'fauxmance', wondering how a man with his face could fall for a woman with hers, even going so far as calling her Jaimes beard. In spite of her nervousness, Brienne had to smirk to herself. Her husband was definitely straight and she was more than satisfied with him.

"Have I told you already how extra gorgeous you look tonight?" he whispered in her ear as they were walking.  
"As a matter of fact, you have," Brienne murmured back, looking down at her midnight blue gown. "Repeatedly. You still might be the only one thinking it."  
"They're blind sheep. We don't care about the opinion of blind sheep, remember?"  
"I just want to get into the building without being stared at too long."  
"I know. You're kind of killing my hand."  
"Sorry" Brienne said, releasing some of the grip with which she held Jaime's hand.  
"You squeeze as hard as you need to, Honeybee. It is overwhelming. Who would have thought that we'd end up at the fucking Baelor awards one day?"  
"I did. Though I imagined it would be you that's nominated."  
"There's always next year. And if not, I can always be your plus one."

When they'd met in school, neither of them had actually believed they'd ever make it big. Jaime just wanted to act, no matter where, and Brienne had thought she would count herself lucky if she got a job making jingles for commercials. As long as she was able to pay her bills at the end of the month, she would've considered herself successful.

It was working on their final school project that got them to work together and it was that same project that put Jaime's name on the list of casting directors. He liked to joke that he owed his career to his jawline, but his looks were really just the icing on the cake. He was a brilliant actor with a range that could pull off anything, from comedy to drama. The more connections he made in the film industry, the easier it became for Brienne to get a proverbial foot in the door, because Jaime never got tired of mentioning his friend, the composer. She eventually got the chance of an apprenticeship under music legend Barristan Selmy while he was scoring a movie Jaime starred in and Selmy took her on as his protege after recognizing her talent. She'd worked hard, soaked up any bit of knowledge the seasoned composer shared with her and after four years got her own project to work on. It was only a teen tv show, cancelled after two seasons, but it put her name on the map and other opportunities followed. Opportunities she'd earned herself, without needing Jaime to introduce her.

Falling in love with each other had happened gradually and then all at once, although Jaime liked to claim that she had been slow on the uptake and he'd been a sucker for her long before she ever saw him as more than her buddy. When they'd moved out to King's Landing for their respective careers after graduation, they'd become roommates, living in a tiny apartment with horrible piping and paper-thin walls. Their tentative friendship developed fast into a best-friends situation, but for years that was all it was. Brienne was focused on working with and learning from Selmy and Jaime was out of town on location to shoot a project a few times a year. But neither of them ever mentioned moving out, even long after they definitely could've afforded something better, maybe even should have, considering Jaime's budding celebrity status. When she finally had a sit-down with herself to ponder why that was, Brienne began to realize that it had nothing to do with convenience and everything with her feelings for him going a lot deeper than best-friend status. She loved coming home after a long day and just spend time with Jaime, knowing that he was always there for her. He could always make her laugh, he was always supportive of her dreams and listened to her ideas and plans and he could give a mean foot rub. She even enjoyed running lines with him.

Knowing her own feelings wasn't the epiphany Brienne would've liked though. It was bound to make things awkward should he ever find out about them, because there was no way anything would ever happen between them. Sure, she was Jaime's best friend, but she knew what he looked like, she wasn't blind. And she just couldn't imagine that he, pretty much a high 9 on the hotness scale, would ever have interest in the 4 that she was on a good day.

In the end, it was a broken pipe that got them together. Literally. They'd come home to a flooded kitchen and Brienne had slipped on the floor. Jaime had tried to catch her fall, and normally he would've been strong enough, but he'd wobbled on the slippery tiles himself and so they'd both landed on the floor, somehow with her on top of him. She'd blinked confusedly, still wondering what just happened and he'd leaned up from beneath her and just kissed her. They'd gotten married only two months after. And finally moved into a house.

Stepping onto the carpet and slowly moving forward towards the theatre where the award ceremony was going to be held, there was the occasional call to turn and smile, to strike a pose, to tell the world which designer she was wearing, but all in all, Brienne luckily made it to the other end and to the theater entrance without being bothered too much, all the while holding Jaime's hand.

"Wasn't so bad now was it?"  
"No."  
"Wanna do it again?" he grinned.  
"No" Brienne said again, only more emphatically. Jaime laughed out loud, before pressing his lips against her temple for a quick kiss. Then, just as they were about to turn around and enter the theater, the smile slid off his features and his eyes narrowed.  
"I'll be right back," he said, with a note of glee.  
"Where are you going?"  
"To do something that must be done," he replied cryptically and sauntered off, the picture of nonchalance. Brienne's eyes followed him as he walked back down the carpet, and moved closer and closer to Dany Targaryen who was nominated in the category of supporting actress and who was currently throwing poses in front of the photographers. Brienne's eyes got wide. There was no love lost between Jaime and the blonde actress. Jaime didn't like Dany one bit ever since they'd done a pilot together for a show that hadn't been picked up. He found her immature (which was very rich coming from a man that refused to throw his collection of action knight figures out) and a pain to work with. As the story went, Dany wasn't too impressed with her co-star either, in fact she'd opted out of another project recently when she got wind Jaime had been cast as the male lead, giving the role to newcomer Sansa Stark.

Jaime walked slowly up behind Dany and then, without further ado, put his hand up behind her head to give her bunny ears, all the while grinning like a loon and wagging his eyebrows. When some photographers started laughing, Dany turned around and Jaime quickly put his hand down, made himself look serious and just nodded at her before walking off again. He came up to Brienne looking like the cat that got the canary and she was hard-pressed to not smile at his display of joy.

"She'll never work with you again, you know?", she instead said, as they walked into the theater.  
"We can only hope."  
"You know the press will be all over this"  
"It's photobombing. All the cool kids do it."  
"You're 34."  
"Ah, we'll just say I was drunk."  
"Before the show even begins? I don't think it'll be better when the whole world speculates whether you've turned to the bottle."  
"I was celebrating your success."  
"I haven't won yet."  
"But you will."  
"You can't know that."  
"Of course I can. You're amazing. It's high time the world catches up to what I know", Jaime replied sagely, "Now let's find our seats and make out until then."  
"Yeah, that's not going to happen."  
"You know, just saying...you may want to keep me occupied, depending who's sitting in front of us."

Well, maybe a little kiss would be okay...for the greater good and all that.


	2. Is this seat taken?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This one was to the prompt of: "meeting at the ___ awards".  
> It's the Baelor Awards again because why not, but it's unrelated to chapter 1.

*****

"You, you and you. You're up. Barristan Selmy, Catelyn Stark and Loras Tyrell have left their seats," the stage manager bellowed, before pointing his index finger at the three people in front of him one after the other.  
"Row 2, 3, and 5, center aisle. Hurry, we're back on in two!"

Brienne shot upwards together with two others, ready to leave the backstage area where they'd been waiting for their assignments. The night so far had been pretty boring and she was ready for a break of the monotony.

This year, the academy for the first time paid its seatfillers and they paid them well, so she had jumped at the chance to make some good and fast money. She didn't even really want to be at the Baelor Awards and definitely wasn't looking to get started in the entertainment business or meet any celebrities, but 300 dragons for three hours of doing practically nothing was a stellar deal, and so she had been happy to be picked after four rounds of interviews. Briskly, but with as much grace as she could muster, Brienne went to row three where famous actress Catelyn Stark had been sitting before taking a break to go to the ladies' or have a snack. It was a good thing the (rental) gown she was wearing was long enough for her to get away with wearing flats, because Brienne Tarth on heels would have been a danger to herself and her surroundings and if that had been a condition for the job, she'd been out in round one. As she was nearing her destination, she repeated to herself the rules that had been imparted upon them for days of rehearsal.

"Don't speak unless you're spoken to. Make sure you are in and out of your seat during the commercial break. Don't draw attention to yourself."

Easy enough.

Brienne went into the row, making sure to not give the sitting stars and starlets a view of her butt as she went and slowly progressed to the empty velvet seat she was supposed to fill for the next block of the award show, finally sitting down with a small sigh. The commercial break was still on, and so far she'd done her job to perfection. Now all she had to do was to sit pretty until the next break, hurry backstage again and, unless she had another assignment later on, collect her check.

"Hey," a smooth male voice said casually.

Brienne froze. Was she supposed to say something back or would that qualify as drawing attention to herself? Playing it safe, she left it at a nod, turning to the right to face the man who had greeted her. Damn! He was exceptionally good-looking, looking at her with sparkling green eyes, and a cheeky smirk that seemed to get bigger the longer she stared at him. But how could one not stare at someone like him? Tousled blonde hair, a jawline that could cut glass, and although he was sitting you just *knew* the suit he was wearing was tailored and fit him perfectly. He could've been an actor, but Brienne had never seen him before and the first rows at the awards were usually filled with the big names.

"You don't talk much, do you?" He continued. "And here I thought I finally might get someone to interact with me now that Catelyn The Frosty is taking a piss."

Brienne didn't even know how to respond to that, so she didn't.

"I'm desperate for a conversation. We can talk about you, so..." he trailed off, before giving her a grin, "Drag queen, is that a good gig?"  
"What?", Brienne exclaimed, just as the music signalling the continuation of the show started playing. She looked around the applauding masses to see if her outburst had drawn any attention, but it seemed she was in the clear.

"Gods, you are a biological woman!" the man to her right kept talking.  
"Of course I am a woman!" Brienne hissed as a presenter took the stage to announce more nominees. The man to her right leaned closer as she turned to face the stage.  
"I was just pulling your leg, I knew you're a woman, I just said it because you're so tall. Did the trick though, didn't it?"  
"It was rude."  
"It was," he agreed, "But you're talking to me now, so it wasn't for nothing. How about I say sorry and we start anew? Hi, I'm Jaime. My family co-produced The North remembers. Hence me having to sit next to its icy star. You are?"  
"Not supposed to talk during the segments," Brienne tried to cut this conversation short.  
"But the show is so very dull." Apparently, this conversation wasn't over.  
"It's the biggest award show in the world," she replied.  
"Still lame. You didn't have to watch Baelish giving an opening monologue that wouldn't end."

"Psssst! Quiet!" another voice from behind them hissed. Jaime didn't even turn around to deliver his comeback.  
"Oh can it, Baratheon, your crap movie isn't even nominated for anything but special effects."  
"Why you--" the voice in the back, presumably Mister Baratheon, sputtered indignatedly.  
"You know, they say that he who remains silent agrees.." Jaime whispered in Brienne's ear. She had to suppress a snicker.  
"You're not really popular here, are you?", she gave in, turning to face him again and keeping the conversation going. The rules of how she was supposed to be behaving had been broken already, no point in going back now.

Jaime shrugged.

"He's a sheep. I don't give much on the opinion of sheep. Have you seen Trials of fire?"  
"No."  
"Good. You're not a sheep then."  
"I haven't seen your film either if I'm honest," she admitted as the audience around them clapped again as a winner was announced.  
"You're becoming more and more likeable by the second. It's a boring two and a half hour drama about finding yourself in the cold. Don't waste money to go see it. Wait until it streams on Wesflix."  
"But you produced it."  
"My father produced it, but appearing at award shows is beneath him, in case he loses the best movie category. I'm just here to represent for the family."  
"And what do you do if it's not being a producer?"

He shook his head with a smile.

"I'm not telling until you finally tell me your name."  
"Brienne," she finally said, blushing, and not knowing why.  
"Brienne," he repeated, trying out the name, "That's a good name. Well, Brienne, I'm a writer. And before you ask, I'm not nominated for anything here. I write for tv mostly. The Moon Door?"  
"Heard of it. Haven't watched it yet, though."  
"Just out of curiosity, is there anything you have seen?"  
"I don't have much time for tv, I'm writing my master's thesis."  
"On what?"  
"The war of the five kings and the repercussions for the smallfolk."  
"History. Nice. I'm supposed to start writing a pilot on the war of the five kings for Wesflix soon."  
"Really?"  
"Yeah, I've been knee-deep in history books for the past half year. It's supposed to be somewhat historically accurate, but with a bunch of original characters to push romantic storylines and personal drama. What a coincidence! Tell me--"

"Ahem," a new voice chimed up. Brienne looked up to see Catelyn Stark peering down at her, "I believe this seat is mine."

Looking around, Brienne could see that no one was on stage and that people were walking around. There seemed to be another break already.

"Oh Gods, I'm so sorry!" she hurried to say, surprised she hadn't paid attention to the show going to break.  
"It's fine sweetie, but we should probably swap places," Catelyn said, looking and sounding rather bored.  
"Of course", Brienne muttered, getting out of the seat quickly and turning to Jaime, "I have to go. Bye. Was nice meeting you."

Not waiting for a reply, she began to squeeze through the row the way she had come, wanting to get backstage again as fast as possible. About halfway there, she heard a 'Wait!' and stopped to turn around. Jaime was jogging up to her.

"What are you doing?"  
"I'm coming backstage with you," he declared as if it were nothing out of the ordinary, arriving next to Brienne and gesturing to her to walk with him.  
"You can't!" She exclaimed.  
"Sure I can. My replacement is probably already on its way to sit next to the Ice Queen and chances are he'll be more popular than me with her anyway" Jaime shrugged off her concern, putting his hand on the small of Brienne's back to get her to finally move. She did, still somewhat confused. After all, she could not still be standing around once the show commenced.  
"What about the Best Movie category?"  
"Eh, the Northern crapfest isn't going to win anyway. And if it does, there's three other producers ready to lie through their teeth how grateful they are to have been a part of it. Let's have some coffee instead. I'd rather talk to you some more."  
"Why?" She asked as they finally had made it to the backstage area.  
"Because it took me already five minutes to get your name and I have a feeling it'll take longer than that plus more personal information on my side to get your phone number or last name. What do you want to know? Blood type? Shoe size?"

Brienne thought for a moment as they took seats.

"Well, seeing as you've been researching the five kings, what's your opinion on Balon Greyjoy?" she finally asked with a tiny smirk of her own.  
"Total douche. I'm thinking of writing him with a speech impediment for the show, actually."

Knowing that they were backstage, Brienne didn't have to hold back her snort of laughter. The stage manager sent a stern glare her way, but luckily didn't come over to say anything. Something told her she wasn't going to be sent out again there any time soon, though. Which was fine, because she definitely was not bored any more.

"My name is Brienne Tarth. Now...what about Roose Bolton?"

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!


End file.
